Voice of the Voters

Thursday

Oct 28, 2010 at 10:51 AM

I watched my local and national news tonight and saw at least two "hate" commercials for my local nominees for senator. I remember (and I don't have a very good memory) when a politician would say something like "I'm John Smith, and I approved this ad" after their commercial aired.

Now, unless you're paying close attention you wouldn't know who sponsored (approved) these commercials. In my book if you're going to say something negative about someone own the statement. I know enough about marketing to know that only half of the story about who voted for what amendment and who voted for the other is being told in these commercials.

Wouldn't it be great if the political parties could stick to telling us what their candidate was going to do for us and why we should vote for him/her instead of filling our days with hate.

I've met both candidates in environments outside of politics. I enjoyed meeting them and learned something from both of them. It's a shame that we have to put up with these negative/hateful commercials.Ralph IvesGainesville

Today we received in our mailbox two political ads paid for by the Republican Party of Florida, both critical of candidate Perry McGriff's 2001 vote on what the ad called the "Scarlet Letter" Law. One ad called the law (HB 141, a 2001 law regarding adoption) a "shocking violation of the privacy of Florida's women." Since I thought the same thing about the recently vetoed law requiring a woman, or even a young girl who was raped, to have and watch a vaginal ultrasound at her own expense before obtaining an abortion, I was curious to find out about this Scarlet Letter Law.

Going to the Florida state government website, I discovered that this "barbaric" law was sponsored by a Republican and co-sponsored by six other Republicans and only three Democrats, and signed into law by Republican governor Jeb Bush. Senate candidate Marco Rubio is equally guilty of voting for this "irresponsible, unbelievable, wrong" law. Are we to assume that we should not vote for Rubio?

The law was passed with 104 yes votes and only 8 no votes in the House and 30 yes votes and 8 no votes in the Senate. It was repealed in 2003 due to its unforeseen consequences. So where's the beef? Why is the Republican party bringing up this non-issue in its political ads? Do they have to flood our mailboxes and insult our intelligence with silly and contrived accusations against their opponents? Can't the political parties just tell us why we should vote for their candidates?Susan BergertGainesville

The negative campaigning by Alex Sink and Rick Scott against their opponents brings out the worst against both of them. If the allegations of either party against their opponent are true, the voter often may prefer not to vote for either of them. What can be done in that case?

Since Bill McCollum was barely defeated by Rick Scott in the primary and has been a good attorney general for the state of Florida, perhaps he would be the best candidate for governor. He could be elected as governor by a write-in vote on the ballot. Those of you who are dissatisfied with the Republican and Democratic candidates, cast your ballot by writing in the name of Bill McCollum for governor.Frederic LusskyGainesville,